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Photo courtesy of Yonhap News |
[Alpha Biz= Kim Jisun] SEOUL, Oct. 19 — The Chinese government has forcibly repatriated at least 406 North Korean defectors to North Korea since last year, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) released on Saturday. The rights group warned that those returned are likely facing severe human rights abuses upon their return.
HRW’s findings are based on information provided by an individual identified under the pseudonym “Steven Kim,” who reportedly maintains an extensive network of sources across both China and North Korea.
According to the report, the cases include 108 North Korean laborers who were deported from Helong City, Jilin Province, in early 2023 after staging a violent protest over unpaid wages, and 212 North Korean women — victims of human trafficking — who were detained in Kunming, Nanning, and Pingxiang before being repatriated later that year.
Adding these figures brings the total number of known forced repatriations since 2020 to at least 1,076 individuals, HRW estimated.
The organization also said that in September 2023, shortly before North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s visit to China, Chinese authorities forcibly returned at least 28 North Korean women. In January 2024, following another labor protest in Helong, 108 repatriated North Korean workers were reportedly sent to political prison camps in the North.
HRW further reported that throughout 2023, more than 270 North Korean women detained in various parts of China were sent back to North Korea, where they are believed to face torture, imprisonment, or sexual violence.
The rights group urged the Chinese government to halt all forced repatriations of North Koreans and called on the international community — including the United Nations and South Korea — to increase diplomatic pressure on Beijing to comply with its obligations under international refugee law.
알파경제 Kim Jisun (stockmk2020@alphabiz.co.kr)
